They make great bonsai !! how big is your trunk ?? i use clip and grow because wireing doesnot work well.. the limbs get brittle the larger they are....have fun show a picture please john

The reason for nandina's persistence in American gardens is that there are not many (any?) robust native evergreen alternatives with good multi-season variety that can hit 6 to 8 ft of height from only a 3 ft diameter footprint. We've been looking for a weeping yaupon (Ilex vomitoria 'Pendula') or the new female (berried) fastigiate 'Scarlet's Peak' to try as a replacement for some nandinas we have as a privacy screen on the property line. These yaupon cultivars stay narrower than the standard variety, but also want to get much taller than your soffit. I've seen a weeping yaupon being kept at 6 to 8 ft that looked okay (though not sure how old it was), but don't know how the fastigiates ('Will Fleming' is a male version) respond to being kept much shorter than their natural height. Need to select female yaupons if you want a chance of berries. Standard yaupon (Ilex vomitoria) will only fit in your space if you're prepared to do a lot of pruning and training. The common dwarf cultivars get much bigger than most nursery photos indicate and will top out around the bottom of the window shown in the photo. Good thing is the dwarfs can be cut back to most any size as needed and will look good after a season of recovery; we keep some at about 2.5 ft with a major trim every 2 or 3 years. 'Micron/Gremicr' is a relatively new cultivar that is smaller than the other dwarfs ('Nana', 'Stoke's', 'Schillings',..) . Unfortunately none of the dwarf cultivars I'm aware of have berries. This post was edited by bostedo on Fri, Feb 7, 14 at 11:35

No odor, but sprinklers have likely run at least once since the deed was done. Don't recall seeing anything larger than German Shepherds, Labs, or Golden Retrievers in the neighborhood. Seems there must be a Mastiff or similar around if this was done by a dog. No frat house, but suppose it could be belated payback for fencing off a favorite late-night shortcut of neighborhood teens a few years back. Not worried about this particular bush since it will be transplanted or removed this winter. However, have several others that would hate to see brown up like this if it is due to disease rather than my swag of temporary damage from some topical "treatment" . Thanks for your inputs.

The 14 or so we've planted uniformly max out at about 4ft tall and 5ft wide. They are often planted too close together for their mature size, but is not a problem unless planning to maintain them as rounded independent plants rather than a continuous hedge. They can be kept smaller with pruning, but will open up a bit on the bottom with age when the drooping crown is trimmed back. We keep several 20+ year-olds pruned below windows that are only 2ft above the slab and will be extending their beds to add flowers or ground-cover to hide their "bare legs". We pick prune every other winter before the early spring growth spurt to keep them small. We also prune with loppers, shears, or electric trimmer any time as needed, but rarely have to. Edit: These are pretty tough plants and seem to be able to take being rehabbed aggressively like boxwoods. However, when we've reduced size by over 30%, tried to do height the first winter and width the second - petty sure they could survive it all at once, but had no need to risk it.